


Mansion on the hill

by goatchann



Category: Original Work
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Magic, Murder, POV First Person, Vampires, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:49:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27671606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goatchann/pseuds/goatchann
Summary: A mansion just outside of town has recently been built and people in the village are suspicious about it. Murders have been happening every full moon since the mansion appeared. Maria goes to check it out, but maybe that was a bad idea...(Rated M to be safe)





	Mansion on the hill

I woke up suddenly, a loud scream came from the streets. It was the middle of the night, the only thing lighting up anything was the full moon. I quickly got up out of bed, wearing my white nightgown. I looked out the window and saw a woman laying face down on the ground in the middle of the street. I raced outside to check on her. It was in vain though, she was dead. 

These incidents were happening a lot lately. Fog closed in on the village when it was full moon and then someone was murdered, two bite marks always on their necks. The village wasn’t very big either. Only a hundred people or so lived here. This was happening for months now though, ever since that big mansion on the hill just outside of the village was built. Everyone is saying that some rich man is going to live there and that his servants are making sure that everything is ready for his arrival tomorrow; the first day of winter. What was a rich, successful man going to do here anyway? We live in the middle of nowhere, far away from any big towns. 

“Maria!” I heard my neighbour yell at me. “Another one?” He asked and I nodded at him. I heard him sigh. “I’ll go report it to the guards, you should go back inside right away.” And with that he scurried off. I felt bad leaving the woman out on the streets, but there wasn’t anything I could do for her. I went back inside. I waited to go to bed again though. I waited for the guard to come get the lady before going to sleep.

The next day dawned on us, the first day of winter was here now. I did my usual routine: eating breakfast, getting dressed, et cetera. I grew up in this village. My mom died a couple of years ago because of illness. I never really knew my dad, he passed away early in my life. I did not have sisters or brothers and the rest of the family had moved to bigger towns to get a brighter future. I stayed behind after my mother’s death. I didn’t want to go. I was content living here and staying close to my roots. I mainly did busywork for people; deliveries, cleaning and whatnot in turn for coin. Work was varied, so I liked it. I usually went to townsquare to see if anyone had work for me and so I did the same thing today.

A crowd was gathered in the area. Something was definitely going on. I listened in on some people.

“Ehhh? They really say he’s almost here?”

I immediately knew what they were talking about. My curiosity was piqued. I had always wanted to know what kind of man was going to move in. Perhaps I could go check out the mansion, I had enough money for the upcoming days anyway. I don’t really know what I was going to get out of this, but… It couldn’t hurt to take a look, right?

The walk up the hill to the mansion was slow and almost dreadful, as if something bad was going to happen. My gut told me to turn back, but I was simply too curious. My timing was perfect. A horse coach drove up to the mansion. A butler of some sort quickly came up with an umbrella. An umbrella? It wasn’t raining or snowing. I had seen a lot of fancy looking people with umbrellas before though, but that was usually in the summer. Odd.

The person that came out of the coach surprised me even more though: a young looking man with pale skin and pitch black hair. He wore a top hat, a suit and white gloves that kind of matched his skin, so it was hard to tell that they were gloves at first. The last thing I noticed were his red eyes. They almost looked like gems. They sparkled beautifully. I could feel myself staring…

He looked directly at me and that had snapped me right out of my thoughts. I blushed in embarrassment, but the man gave me a nice smile before stepping inside his mansion. 

He almost didn’t feel real in a way. I didn’t know what it was about him. He felt magical. I looked up at the mansion. Well, I suppose everything to do with this building was magical in a sense. It made me think about the incidents going on in the village and dread washed over me. Did he have something to do with that? Even if he did though, what were we going to do about it? He seemed to have tons of servants and someone rich surely was well-known outside of our little community. 

I walked down the hill and into the village again. Maybe it was time to do some work. While I was doing my work however, I couldn’t help but look back up at the mansion every once in a while. It was menacingly towering over the village with its sheer size. 

Work wasn’t very varied today, I mainly did a lot of cleaning for people today. Tired from the labor, I walked into my home. I heard something crinkle under my foot as I walked in though. I lifted up my foot to reveal a letter I had stepped on. It wasn’t unusual for me to receive letters. They were mainly from folks that wanted to get me to do work for them the next day. This letter had a very fancy seal though. It was beautifully done with red candle wax and was stamped with an emblem I had never seen before. I sat down at my table and opened the letter. 

Dear lady on the hill this morning,

I understand that this letter may seem a bit surprising, but I’d like to invite you to my mansion tomorrow evening. I’d like to discuss a couple of things with you as you were the first to show up to my new home today. 

Signed,

I couldn’t really read the signature. It was overly complicated and cursive. I could decipher that the first name started with a ‘C’ however. Should I go? This seemed very suspicious after all. Ahhhh, but again, my curiosity. And someone had to find out who this person was right? Everyone else seemed too scared to even approach the mansion. They think some sort of monster resides in there and the local fortune teller had predicted doom to come over this village because of the mansion. 

I’m going to go.

And so, the next day in the evening I stood in front of the mansion. I heard the faint sound of an accordion being played somewhere. I knocked on the door and the door creaked open. It seems pretty irresponsible to leave the door unlocked like this. This seems to be an expensive mansion after all. It was rather dark inside, but I could still see a little bit. I heard the accordion more clearly now. It was sort of enchanting. I followed the sound and it led to a room. I was a bit hesitant to open the door. The sound led me in seemingly without me wanting to. I saw that man that arrived yesterday. He was playing the accordion rather nicely. Some butlers or servant seeming figures stood around him as well. They were looking at him with empty looking eyes. I found myself staring at him too now. As soon as I realized I couldn’t move, I panicked. My eyes shot wide open. I couldn’t speak either. The man stopped playing. I still couldn’t move. He started to talk:

“Well, well, I see you got the letter.” He spoke in a thick eastern European accent. “No need to panic dear. It’s only temporary. I asked you here to talk to you about something.” 

I squinted my eyes at what he said. He laughed. I could see fangs. I panicked more now.

“Oh dear, I’m really bad at hiding these.” The servants all sighed at what he said. “We’re not here to talk about my teeth. We’re here to talk about your fate.” Again, I squinted at that. “A little birdie told me that someone suspects you’re a witch and the culprit of all these murders going on in your town. They claim ever since this very mansion was being built you seemed very fixated on it.” What kind of ridiculous claim is that? The only thing I know about witches is that my grandmother was one. My mom nor my dad had those powers though. The blood had run dry, as they say.

The thought of anyone accusing me was ridiculous though. 

I could feel that my mouth could move again, so I started to speak. “How ridiculous is that? You think I’d believe that? You have fangs! You’re clearly a vampire! You’re probably the one behind the attacks in the village!”

The vampire in front of me seemed to laugh again, the servants were too now. I felt very uneasy. 

“I-I’m going to tell everyone!” Again, the man only seemed to laugh at that.

“You’re allowed to tell everyone, but then what? The rumor about you is spreading as we speak. Who’s going to believe a witch?” 

He was right too, but I didn’t want to give in. I started to move my arms and legs again. The spell had worn off. I immediately went up to him to punch him in the face. I was so angry that he’d said all of that. My fist was stopped by his hand though. The cheerful look on his face turned into a stone cold one. All the other servants were looking at me angrily as well. I gulped and pulled my hand away from him. I stepped back. The man clicked his tongue. 

“You should know that you can’t simply attack Ciril Fekete.” Ah so that was his name. “I’m disappointed that a lady such as yourself resorted to violence.” He spoke further.

He looked so scary. I was frozen in place when he had said that. Once I got my bearings again, I bolted away, right out of the door.

A servant looked over at Ciril and asked a question.

“Do you think she really is a witch?” Ciril nodded. “I believe she’ll be a nuisance if she continues to be around.”

A couple of weeks passed. Victims were killed. Instead of it being at full moon only, it was now happening every week. People were getting scared that the occurrence was going to be everyday if this kept up. I told people about Ciril. About him attacking me, about him being a vampire, but not a lot of people believed me. I didn’t really have any evidence after all. The rumor about me being a witch spread rapidly though and loads of people believed it. I didn’t have a lot to do now. I was sitting in my home. I didn’t get any jobs because people didn’t trust me anymore. 

I was all alone. 

A knock on my door snapped me out of my thoughts. I opened it. Maybe it was work. When I opened it, it was the city guards. 

“Maria Adelstein, you’re under arrest for being a suspected witch.” They said matter of factly. This didn’t really come as a shock to me. My grandmother went through the exact same thing. She was executed when my mom was about sixteen years old. There was no use resisting. I let them take me away.

I was thrown into a jail cell, far away from any others. They didn’t want me to bewitch anyone. It was all understandable. Witches are dangerous, I believe that too. 

A figure suddenly appeared from the shadows. It was Ciril.

“Well well, was my prediction right or what?” Ciril started. “I think you lured me into some trap.” I retorted. He laughed. “Right you are.” I sighed. I should have never gone up to that mansion, but maybe I was lured in by his magic in some way. I had pondered about that the last couple of days as the rumors had gotten out of control. 

“But why?” I asked him. “You are indeed a witch. The rumor I spread wasn’t untrue. You are the only one in the village that has any sort of magical properties. I thought you were going to be a problem for me.”

I squinted my eyes at him and he continued: “You see, you were soon going to awaken to your powers and then you could have done all sorts of things to me. I need blood to live and so do my servants.”

I sort of understood his sentiment, but he was still murdering people. 

“Ah Maria, I’m sorry it has to end this way for you.”  
“What? Are you going to drink my blood now?”  
“Ahahaha, no no. I can’t. Witch blood is poisonous to vampires. The magic coursing through my veins and the magic coursing through yours don’t mix unless we’d make a child together.”

I sighed again. He touched my cheek through the bars separating us. “Enjoy your last moments dear.” He then faded away in some sort of fog. 

A day or so had passed and the guards were coming to get me. I had been sentenced to death. They accused me of witchcraft and blamed all the murders on me. It was all Ciril’s fault, but he also had to survive. If only I knew that I was a witch sooner… Then maybe… But it’s too late to turn this back now. Ciril was going to murder the entire village and the villagers were none the wiser. I wasn’t going to tell them that. They wouldn’t believe me. 

The stake was ready for me. I was tied to it and suddenly broke out into tears. I didn’t really want to die, but there was no way out. I looked into the crowd to seek any comfort, but everyone stared at me angrily, wanting me dead. They thought I’d murdered their family, their neighbour, their friends, their everything. I suddenly saw Ciril in the crowd. It gave me comfort for some reason. He knew the truth even if he was the culprit of all of this. He had his usual cheerful look. This was his plan, but through that I could see pain. His facade had broken a bit. Maybe that was my imagination though. They lit the wood on fire. This was truly it. They all watched me burn, watched me feel the excruciating pain.

And then it was all over.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! I've always wanted to write something to lay the groundworks for my character Ciril. 
> 
> Sorry if it feels rushed. I got that feeling when I read through it the last time to fix some errors and make the sentences a bit more smooth, but in the end I couldn't really get the latter done all that well, I hope it wasn't too bothersome and hard to read. It wasn't rushed though. I took my time with it.
> 
> The next fic will probably be something overly smutty, so if you're into that, maybe you wanna keep an eye on me who knows ;3  
> I'd love to know what you think~


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